Hi bh404, I also run Carrara on a 500/G3 (a pismo actually). I find it only runs smoothly if I create a trimmed down extension set specially for Carrara. Oh and about the production frame, you can remove it by going to the view menu at the top (click show production frame) I know this doesnt address your other concerns with the software, but I thought I would at least let you know how I got it to run smoothly. That was a big problem for me also at first. Cheers, Max